Quite simply, it will change your life. At its core, meditation improves your sense of self. Present moment awareness is the very soil in which our sense of self is rooted and dyads will improve your ability to connect and communicate with others.

Loneliness has reached epidemic proportions and has been equated to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. But it is more than social isolation. It is also a lack of connection with oneself as well as with others.

We are living in the attention economy and life is filled with distractions - from smartphones, to children, to our own chattering minds. It is also filled with worries that we have little control over but that affect our lives in very deep and meaningful ways, such as the climate crisis and the global financial crisis. You will learn how present moment awareness can help to let go of the need to escape or worry and simply experience reality, exactly as it is in the here and now. You will be a part of a community that will support you on your individual journeys.

Meditation can mean many different approaches. At Roam Within you will learn a meditation practice that meets you where you are at. We offer instruction, motivation, and support that is grounded in 21st century living. Your community is there to offer connection, accountability, and shared practice.

A dyad is a contemplative exercise done in pairs. Dyad means something that has two parts. You will be given an instruction to contemplate. The instruction is, “Tell me how you are.” Over 40 minutes, you will sit, facing your partner, taking turns to communicate. One dyad cycle is 10 minutes long with each of you taking 5 minutes to communicate. You will swap over four times giving each of you four opportunities to communicate in the full dyad period. As the listening partner, you will give the instruction and do your best to watch, listen, and try to understand without commenting, nodding, or evaluating in any way. As the speaking partner you will receive the instruction, get a sense of how you are in the present moment, and communicate this to your partner. A gong timer is used to indicate when the five minutes is up and the listening partner will say, ‘Thank you,’ before changing over. Both partners say thank you at the end of the 40 minutes.

It’s just you and the open road of life. You won’t be using apps, headphones, soundtracks, or guided practices. The focus is entirely on being present which means you can practise your meditation on your commute, standing in a queue, walking the dog, exercising, even socialising. 

No. The first retreat - Charting Your Own Course - is for all skill and experience levels. If you have practised mindfulness or mantra based meditation, this can be helpful as you may already have some of the basic skills. However, applying these skills to everyday concerns is where we depart from what is traditionally viewed as meditation.

Absolutely. Roam Within teaches vichara, Sanskrit for self-enquiry. It is entirely secular. The only material to study is yourself, you are getting to know who you are at your core. Reading lists are available with a mix of academic, non-fiction, and wisdom literature so you can choose what you are most interested in. This is all part of the approach in charting your own course to knowing your inner world.

Roam Within’s curriculum is designed by Dr Tina Basi and is based on her research of the wellness sector at the University of Cambridge. She is trained in a variety of Indian, Buddhist, Zen, and secular approaches to meditation, including the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) programmes.

The "Charting your Course" retreat aligns with Patanjali's eightfold path.